


Steel Trap

by elicitillicit



Series: Paint it Black [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, basically everybody is shady AF, drug dealing bella and drug dealing tom riddle, i just wanted to tell a bella story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 00:12:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4897708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elicitillicit/pseuds/elicitillicit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of staying home and reading shit she already knows, she bullies Lucius Malfoy into sneaking her into frat parties that she really has no right to be at, given that she’s not actually in a sorority (too pink too giggly too fucking pre-Stepford). Frat parties turn into club nights. Club nights turn into underground club nights.</p><p>Underground club nights turn into super fucking shady.</p><p>And Bella, drinking and brawling and smoking, is still bored.</p><p>But then, she meets Rodolphus, who’s a fucking giant with muscles on muscles but kisses like a butterfly and unwraps her like a peppermint candy drop in church.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steel Trap

0930h – _hi_

0930h – _is this bellatrix black_

0942h – **What**

0942h –  **Yes**

0942h – **Who’s this  
**

0945h – _um  
_

0945h –  _rodolphus  
_

0946h –  _we met last night_

0946h –  _at the party  
_

0947h –  _you jumped on me and tried to take my shirt off  
_

0948h –  _then you bit my neck  
_

0949h –  _and stole my phone  
_

0949h –  _and put your number in it  
_

0950h –  _then gave it to malfoy and said to hide it so that i’d have to work for reward  
_

0953h –  **Oh  
**

0954h –  **Ok then  
**

0954h –  **Did he hide it  
**

0955h –  _no  
_

0955h –  _he gave it back to me and said you’re crazy  
_

0959h –  **Motherfucker  
**

1000h –  _but i like your boots  
_

1010h –  **You mean you like my boobs  
**

1010h –  **Asshole  
**

1012h –  _yeah  
_

1013h –  _but also your boots  
_

1013h –  _they’re very cool  
_

1014h –  **Wtv  
**

1015h –  **If I tried to take your shirt off you must be some kind of hot I guess  
**

1016h –  **So what do you want  
**

1016h –  **Breakfast?  
**

1017h –  **Lunch?  
**

1017h –  **Dinner?  
**

1017h –  **A pity fuck?  
**

1019h –  _um  
_

1019h –  _can we do lunch?  
_

1019h –  _i like milkshakes  
_

1020h –  _do you like milkshakes_

1021h –  **Lol you’re adorable  
**

1021h –  **Bring condoms**  

* * *

College, Bella finds, is  _boring_. It’s class after class after goddamn fucking stupid class and if these are the country’s best and brightest, she must be burning like a fucking  _star_.

She wants to  _leave_ , really; it’s not like she’ll need any of this to run her father’s borderline legitimate, multi-million dollar, vaguely defined  _Business_. But Andromeda has gone and let everybody down by shacking up with trailer park trash, becoming depressingly liberal and winning a merit scholarship to UChicago, and Narcissa’s off training to be a prima donna ballerina or some shit like that, and so  _somebody_  has to actually graduate with a college degree.

But Bella’s majoring in biochemistry – and she could do all her labs in her  _sleep_ , to be pretty fucking honest – which has  _nothing_  to do with  _Business_ , and she already knows that she will  _not_  work for some fucked-up-messed-up pharmaceutical giant when she graduates.

So instead of staying home and reading shit she already knows, she bullies Lucius Malfoy into sneaking her into frat parties that she really has no right to be at, given that she’s not actually in a sorority ( _too pink too giggly too fucking pre-Stepford_ ). Frat parties turn into club nights. Club nights turn into  _underground_  club nights.

Underground club nights turn into  _super fucking shady_.

And Bella, drinking and brawling and smoking, is still bored.

But then, she meets Rodolphus, who’s a fucking  _giant_  with muscles on muscles but kisses like a butterfly and unwraps her like a peppermint candy drop in church, and she’s not _bored_ bored for the first time in like fucking forever.  

He introduces her to  _Breaking Bad_  one night when they’re curled up in bed, chain smoking. Bella snatches his laptop from him, squints at the lab bench and the smoking beakers, and says  _I could do that_.

Rodolphus raises his eyebrows.

Challenge accepted.

* * *

0201h –  _babe wru_

0212h –  _this place is weird_

0212h –  _everyone is high_  

0213h –  _and not fun high_

0213h –  _this guy just tried to shank me_

0213h –  _i think i broke his elbow_

0219h –  **Lol what a fool**

0219h –  **Sit on him or something**

0219h –  **I’m busy**  

0220h –  **Get me a beer ok babe**

0220h –  _but wru_

0221h –  **Actually get two beers**

0222h –  **Lucius is here**

0223h –  _wruuuuuuuuu_

0224h –  **Three**

0225h –  **Riddle wants a beer**

0226h –  _who’s riddle?_

0229h –  _babe????????????_

0230h –  _IM JUGGLING 4 BEERS AND A MOBILE  
_

0230h –  _WRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU_

* * *

His name is Tom Riddle and he’s basically Lucius’s dealer for all of his frat parties. He’s tall and thin and dark and  _really fucking handsome_ , which generally doesn’t do much for her because  _please_ she’s a Black and good bone structure is  _everywhere_. So, Bella, who generally doesn’t have opinions on service staff because they’re  _service staff_ , ignores him until he casually clicks the safety off on a handgun and levels it at her forehead. “If you deal with me, you deal with  _me_ ,” he informs her calmly, as if he isn’t threatening to kill her point blank. “No selling to other dealers trying to edge in on  _my_ market. You will also look at me when you speak to me, defer to my recommendations should you have any doubts, and basically do everything I tell you to.”

The shady nightclub that they’re at is so fucking high on the  _hub for illegal transactions_  scale that no one blinks at the armed man aiming a live weapon at a young woman clutching a bag of crystal meth to her chest. Lucius hasn’t moved from his cleverly chosen spot between them, but his knuckles are clenched white around his mobile, and his eyes are fixed on a point somewhere on the far wall. Bella is hyperaware of the fact that Rodolphus is  _not_  at her back and probably wouldn’t be able to get here in time to disarm this guy.

So she stays very still and her heart is  _thumping thumping thumping_  in her chest and she wishes she hadn’t laced her corset  _quite_  so tight, but she manages to whisper _yes yes yes_ and so he smiles, flicks the safety back on, and returns the handgun to a hidden pocket in his coat.

“Lucius tells me that you come from an enterprising family,” he says conversationally, leaning back into the grimy pleather seats. “What else can you give me?”

His smile is illuminated briefly by the flashing lights over by the dance floor, and black spots flicker across her vision.

She’d forgotten to breathe.

* * *

1626h –  _babe_

1627h –  _wanna hang out after your chemistry final?_

1627h –  _i’ve got the new halo_

1628h –  _we can kill some aliens and shit_

1632h –  **Nah**

1633h –  **I’ve gotta cook**

1634h –  **Riddle wants a fresh batch for the after-finals crowd**

1635h –  **He’s thinking of ditching his weed supplier**

1635h –  **I bet the weed I’m growing is better quality**

1636h –  _but babe i miss you_

1636h –  _you’re always cooking_  

1637h –  _and meeting riddle_

1640h –  _baaaaaaaaaabe_

1641h –  **You’re whining**

1642h –  **It’s very unattractive**

1643h –  **I bet I can become his main supplier**

1643h –  **Maybe he’ll give me a larger role**

1644h –  **Do you think my father will be interested in this**

1644h –  **I mean**  

1645h –  **If anyone can hide us from the DEA it’s daddy**

1646h –  **I followed Riddle the other day to find out who his coke supplier is**

1647h –  **He’s some dude named Wally?????  
**

1647h –  **You could totally take him**

1648h –  **We could fill in for him while he ‘recuperates’**

1649h –  **And he’ll never get better because you’ll do something like slip one of his spinal discs or something**

1650h –  **And then Riddle will find us to be indispensable**

1657h –  _bella we need to talk_

* * *

“You want  _what_?” Bella squawks, and almost burns herself with her lighter. 

Rodolphus frowns and kicks at the tire of her BMW. “I want a  _break_ , Bella,” he explains patiently, still not looking at her. “I think that maybe we should take some time apart.” 

She scoffs and takes a drag on her cigarette, blowing the smoke into his face. “Why? Because you don’t like all the dealing? Roddy, we’re earning  _money_. If you’re scared, we could put you to doing something that won’t expose you so much to the cops-”

She’s cut off by Rodolphus, who swipes the cigarette from her fingers, throws it to the ground, and grinds it into the slush with the heel of his doc martens. “It’s  _not_ that I’m fucking  _scared_ , Bella,  _fuck;_ I’m just not  _fucking_ fine with coming in last with whatever you’ve got with Riddle and the drugs, ok?” 

His eyes are boring into hers, now, wild and angry, and his hands are gripping her shoulders tight and maybe he doesn’t realise how strong he is because it  _hurts,_ and she kicks at his shin. “Let me  _go!”_

He releases her like she’s toxic and backs away, hands in the air, expression bleak. “I love you, Bella. But you treat me like  _shit_  and I know I’m  _fucking_  worth more than being your little guard dog. So let me know when you decide to do more than just throw me the bones that Riddle has chewed on, mm?” 

And then he’s gone, ducking into his Land Rover and slamming the door shut. The roar of the engine seems unnecessarily loud, and Bella lights another cigarette and tries to ignore the bubbling hurt that’s eating away at the bottom of her stomach. 

Rodolphus pulls out of the car park. She waits until she can’t hear him any more before exhaling into the frigid silence.

* * *

2313h –  **Rodolphus**

2313h –  **Riddle wants to know if you’re still in for the Thursday drop**

2340h –  **Roddy**

2342h –  **I know you’re awake**

2342h –  **I know you’ve read this  
**

2343h –  **There are two blue ticks**

2343h –  **Your last seen was like a minute ago**

0000h –  **Roddy please**

* * *

Riddle rolls his eyes at her when he finds out. 

“Oh my  _god_ ,” he intones, efficiently counting out freshly-minted bills, “You’re all such  _children_. Find another fuck buddy. Let me know where Rodolphus lives so that I can silence him.” 

She pauses in the process of packaging weed into ziplock bags. “You’d kill him for breaking up with me?” 

Riddle snorts and runs his thumb over a wad of a thousand dollars in ten dollar bills before tying it together with a rubber band and starting on the next set of a thousand. “Um, no. If he talks to a cop, we’re all fucked.” 

Something in Bella - the something that had been comparing Riddle’s dark eyes with Rodolphus’s blue ones and Riddle’s clever fingers with Rodolphus’s infrequent, infectious laugh - freezes and flops over, dead. 

“Lucius needs Sunday off,” she finally says, mechanically weighing another load of marijuana. “It’s Narcissa’s birthday. They’re going out for dinner.” 

“I gave him the Friday off last month,” Riddle murmurs, visibly displeased. “Your sister is beginning to be  _quite_ a liability.” 

Bella shifts to hide the shake in her hands. “Lucius loves her, Sir. But I’m sure they’ll be amenable to changing the date if you have one when you can spare him.” 

Riddle waves at her impatiently. “Ugh. Let him go. I’ve got another guy who can do the drop on Sunday, anyways. Fucking  _whipped_.” 

Bella seals the last bag, puts it all aside in a cardboard box for Riddle to check, mutters a goodbye, and leaves as quickly as she can without being outright rude. 

* * *

1824h –  **Roddy I’m coming over**

1825h –  **Only let me in ok  
**

1825h –  **No pizza boys no nothing**

1826h –  **And if Riddle is at the door you RUN**

1830h –  _what makes you think im letting you in_

1852h –  **I’m already here**

1852h –  **I’m in the boots you like**  

1853h –  **And Riddle might kill you and it would upset me**

1900h –  **Fucking let me in before I call Lucius and tell him that you wanked into his mother’s koi pond**

* * *

“He’s a  _psychopath_ ,” Bella announces when Rodolphus warily –  _finally_  – lets her into his apartment. 

He shuts the door and leans against it, arms folded and expression surly. “So, no more meth? No more weed?” 

She takes a deep breath and reaches up to carefully cradle his face in between her palms. “I don’t mind working for a psychopath,” she tells him, and slips her hands down to wind behind his neck when he tries to push her away. “I don’t mind  _working_ for him - but I want you with me. All the time.”

He’s still frowning, but he settles his hands on her hips anyways. “You haven’t dealt with how I’m always coming in at second place.” 

Bella purses her lips and looks him in the eye. “I’m probably going to take you for granted a lot,” she tells him, and holds on tighter when he flinches. “But you’re going to have to remind me, because I probably won’t mean it. My work is important to me, Roddy. But so are you.” 

“Is that the best I’m going to get?” 

She shrugs. “You said you love me. How  _much_ do you love me?”

He kisses her forehead, and her eyes slide shut. 

* * *

0832h –  **Roddy**

0832h –  **Check your mail**

0942h –  _what’s a vitamix_

0953h –  **It’s expensive**

0953h –  **Don’t break it**

0954h –  _????_

0955h –  _why did you buy me a blender_

0956h –  _i take all my protein in the form of chicken and fish_

0958h –  **Please**

0958h –  **I know your protein powder’s hidden under the kitchen sink**

0959h – ok  _but i HAD to hide it after my brother tried to snort it_

1000h –  **Wtv**  

1000h –  **the vitamix is for milkshakes**

1000h –  _omg_

1001h –  **You’re always talking about milkshakes**

1002h –  _YES_

1002h –  **I want one**

10002 –  _YOU’RE A FUCKING STAR_

1002h –  **I’m coming over later**

1003h –  **After I convince Riddle not to kill you**

1004h –  **I expect a milkshake**

1005h –  _ok babe_  

1006h –  **Chocolate ok  
**

1007h –  _vanilla  
_

1008h –  _i fucking love vanilla_

1009h –  **Ok wtv both chocolate and vanilla**

1010h –  _yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas_

1013h –  **But don’t make too much ok**

1014h –  **I don’t want to feel all sloshy**

1017h –  _?????_

1020h –  **I’m bringing condoms**

 


End file.
